A real speed race has begun between, on the one hand, the European Commission, which, under strong pressure from Berlin, hopes to sign before the end of the year a free trade agreement with the Mercosur countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) and, on the other, France, which is organizing resistance on all fronts. This is not the first time that a deal appears to be within reach. But Paris knows itself to be weakened on the community scene since the failed dissolution of the National Assembly and fears, more than ever, being sacrificed on the altar of German interests.
This week, teams from the Commission were in Brazil to continue conversations with their South American interlocutors, with the hope that the agreement can finally be closed, with great fanfare, at the Mercosur summit, scheduled in Montevideo, the Uruguayan capital, from December 6 to 8.
Paris, for its part, made a show of force in the National Assembly on Tuesday, November 26. In fact, the deputies He voted overwhelmingly against the prospect of this trade agreement, which the Community Executive has been negotiating, on behalf of the Twenty-Seven, for more than twenty-five years. The message sent to Brussels is clear: if the European Union (EU) signed with Mercosur, it would run the risk of fueling populism of all kinds in France and giving new arguments to Marine Le Pen.
In these times of great government instability, with the National Rally on the prowl, Emmanuel Macron wants to avoid such a scenario at all costs. The head of state insists that“as is” the text is “unacceptable” and that the obligation to respect the Paris climate agreement, deforestation bans and mirror clauses must be included. “This type of agreement fuels the Eurosceptic vote everywhere, not just in France”agrees Benjamín Haddad, Minister of European Affairs.
“The lines are moving in Europe”
So far, the argument has not been enough to influence the will of Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the Commission. Negotiations on the agreement with Mercosur are underway “in the final stretch”even if “the devil is in the details”he said again, on Sunday, November 17.
Normally, free trade agreements must be adopted unanimously by the Twenty-seven before being ratified by all the national parliaments of the Union. An obstacle course that no trade agreement no longer has the slightest chance of succeeding in a Europe where free trade is increasingly less popular. In this context, the Commission is in favor of another legal basis that would allow it to validate a possible agreement with Mercosur by a qualified majority of the Member States and a vote in the European Parliament.
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